Rawat said he wanted to step down as a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee and as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee at the national level, saying he did not want any action or conduct on his part to weaken the party’s ongoing fight.
“Therefore, after remembering my Isht Devta, I have taken a major decision. I am not holding any government post, so there is no question of resigning from one. However, I am a member of the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee executive and a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee at the national level. I would like to respectfully step down from both these positions, because I do not want the party’s struggle to be weakened in any way because of me,” Rawat said on his X account.
“Congress Party membership is in my blood and bones; it shapes everything that Harish Rawat is. It will go to heaven with me,” he added.
The ED said in a statement on Friday evening that it had raided Jeena on Thursday and seized cash worth ₹32 lakh and a dozen luxury wristwatches.
Jeena is currently serving as a personal assistant to Rawat and had earlier served as officer on special duty (OSD) during the Congress leader’s tenure as chief minister from 2014-17.
The searches were conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or PMLA, at multiple locations in Dehradun. The premises searched included those belonging to the former chairman, secretary and exam controller of the Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission (UKSSSC), the owner of a private computer agency engaged in processing OMR sheets and some alleged middlemen. The agency did not name the chairman and secretary in its statement.
The ED’s investigation stems from four Uttarakhand Police and Vigilance Bureau first information reports (FIRs) registered over alleged irregularities in the Gram Panchayat Vikas Adhikari Exam conducted by the UKSSSC in 2016.
According to the ED, the OMR answer sheets were diverted from the UKSSSC’s secure custody to the private residence of its then secretary. “At the secretary’s residence, roll numbers on under-filled OMR sheets were noted down and handed over to private computer-agency personnel to fraudulently fill and alter answer bubbles before resealing, in exchange for illegal gratification routed through middlemen,” the agency said.
During the searches at the residential premises of Jeena, the ED said it recovered unaccounted cash worth ₹32 lakh, gold coins and chains weighing about 200.5 grams, and 12 luxury wristwatches of various luxury brands such as Rolex, Rado, Piaget, Movado, Tissot and Casio Edifice.
Rawat’s decision to offer his resignation from the two Congress positions came a day after the ED action against his current PA, who had also served as his OSD during his 2014-17 tenure as Uttarakhand chief minister, bringing the political fallout of the money laundering probe into sharper focus.
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